


new memories

by Anzieizna



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, World War Two, Yearning, imagining a life together, it's not mentioned but it is obvious, pre-death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anzieizna/pseuds/Anzieizna
Summary: He had made it to the edge of a wall with nowhere to go when Havers quietly asked, “do you ever think about it?”The Captain blinked, then asked, “think about what?”“If I was a woman. Or if you were. If one of us was a woman, and the other was a man.”The Captain didn’t respond. He kept staring at the ceiling.---- OR: -----The Captain and Havers spend a quiet night in bed, talking about what could be.
Relationships: The Captain/Lieutenant Havers (Ghosts TV 2019)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 88





	new memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is incredibly short but I was just inspired by two things:
> 
> @wildenessat221b's fic _if rome hadn't fallen_ which touched me deeply and also made my eyes tear up at the mini poem they included, and the classic Sappho fragment, _someone will remember us, i say, in another time._
> 
> This is far too short but I just really loved it <3 Feel free to point out any mistakes and thank you for reading!

Through the floor, the Captain could hear the soldiers partying through the night. It was of no matter to them that there was a war going on, apparently, as they kept cheering and laughing and trading stories well into the morning.

Months and years ago, the Captain would have told them off. He would have left the comfort of his bed to break up the party and chide them on the seriousness of the climate these days, remind them that now was not the time to get drunk and make mistakes.

 _Yes,_ the Captain thought, _I would’ve done that in the past. I would’ve shooed them off to bed without a second thought._

Instead, the Captain ran a hand through Havers’ hair.

The man on his chest rumbled, clearly half-asleep but enjoying the feeling. “You’re thinking,” he said, his voice muffled and hazy in the way that made the Captain muffle a smile. “I can’t see you, but I know you’re thinking. What are you thinking about?”

“The war,” he said, and Havers hummed. “The chaps downstairs don’t seem to be thinking of it at all.”

“Let them have fun. We don’t know how long this will last, after all.”

“We don’t,” the Captain agreed, then lapsed back into silence.

The ceiling was a popcorn ceiling, and the Captain remembered how he would trace the lines in his room like they were the maze games on his morning cereal as a child. There was never a final destination, never an ‘X’ to mark the exit of the maze, but as the Captain advanced through life, he found this was something that he could relate to even now.

He had made it to the edge of a wall with nowhere to go when Havers quietly asked, “do you ever think about it?”

The Captain blinked, then asked, “think about what?”

“If I was a woman. Or if you were. If one of us was a woman, and the other was a man.”

The Captain didn’t respond. He kept staring at the ceiling.

“We could be living in a house,” Havers continued. “A house with one bedroom, one bathroom and one kitchen. Big windows to look out of and a garden to plant things in. We could go out, we could hold each other, we could get married.”

The Captain hummed, looking up at the maze. He asked, “where would we live?”

Havers was quiet for a moment. “Not in a town. Too busy and loud for me, I think. I like nature but the countryside is much too boring here. A seaside town, maybe.”

“I have an aunt in Bournemouth,” the Captain said. “Or last I heard of her, anyway.”

“I’ve never been to Bournemouth. What’s it like?”

“Pretty. Relaxing. A lot of miscreant youths,” he said with a grin, and Havers laughed softly.

“Did you order them about like you do your soldiers now, too?”

The Captain shrugged and Havers made a discontented noise, moulding him into his pillow once more. “That was a very long time ago. I’m afraid I don’t remember much about it.”

They were quiet for another moment. Then Havers sighed and said, “no matter. We’d make new memories anyway.”

The Captain imagined it. He imagined the war ending, giving up his place in the army to go live with Havers by the sea. He imagined their two-story house with one bedroom, one bathroom and one kitchen and a garden that would likely be filled with flowers they’d keep forgetting to water.

He imagined all this and more, and he smiled.

“Yes,” he said into the night. “We would, wouldn’t we?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't hesitate to leave kudos and a comment. Also, it's been forever since I visited Bournemouth and the only thing I can remember from my last visit was the worrying amount of times I turned a corner only to run into more kids smoking weed.


End file.
